When Leonel had this thought, he almost visibly relaxed. Everything in this Incomplete World had felt like another mystery ready to take a bite out of his neck. He had been prepared to face off against Gods if need be, but running into the Sea Gods was ironically a blow.
It felt like this Incomplete World was far larger than he knew. Even with all his preparation, he had come into this assuming that the natives of this world would be the easy part, come to find out they were a variable in and of themselves.
But now, not only had he found a devastating weakness of the strongest of them, he had also exposed one of the parties as well.
The Barbarian Race.
He hadn't said anything, but how could he not recognize Talon? Talon likely didn't expect that he was standing across from Leonel, or else he wouldn't have so casually taken out such an identifying weapon.
As for the fact that Sashae had pegged him as an Envoy, he wasn't worried in the slightest.
First, this might actually be a positive thing, not a negative. The deeper they thought his waters ran, the more chances he would have to take advantage of their ignorance. When the time came, he could even directly counter Sashae's tablet at just the right time to deal a death blow. After all, how could the Golden Tablet suppress him while he was in possession of the Life Tablet?
Second, he was fairly certain that Sashae was just taking a shot in the dark. She had no certainty whatsoever.
Basically, whether she believed it or not, Leonel would have the leg up. After all, they had never seen his face and had no idea who he was. Even Emperor Fleeting Cloud had no idea. He would never take the risk of exposing his real face to such a man.
That said... that didn't mean that Leonel didn't still have issues to deal with.
The first was the most obvious, and that was how the hell did they get their hands on a Golden Tablet?
The second was also fairly close to the forefront of his mind, and that was that if the Barbarian Race was the second party involved in this world, who was the third?
And the third issue was a problem he would have to deal with right now.
He had repelled the enemy for now, so what should he do with the Fleeting Cloud Empire? What should his next steps be?
Leonel lost himself in thought for a moment before he felt there was only one real path forward for now.
Their numbers were too few. Getting human territory back was useless if he couldn't have humans fill them.
That was the first and most pressing need.
Then, he would need to blueprint a Craft that could give his own natural ability to counter the Sea Gods to the warriors of the Human Race.
If he could do that, he would really turn the tables.
And he already had a few ideas.
**Not even a day after the Sea Gods retreated, Leonel began implementing his plans.
His victory made everything much easier. Even if the Emperor still had his doubts, he had no choice but to listen to Leonel directly.
The only reason the Emperor might fight back against Leonel now was if he was worried about keeping his leadership position in the future.
If Leonel saw any signs of such a thing, he would just kill the man directly.
At this point, he was less worried about being exposed because he had already laid a foundation.
Without the Sea Gods interfering, the changes he was able to make to their protective Force Art could only be said to be godly in and of itself. In fact, the formation no longer just protected the city, it enveloped the entire planet.
No one would be able to take a step forward without Leonel's input, and he had the Sea Gods to thank for making it so easy.
The flying ships of this Incomplete World were a bit different from what he was used to in the Dimensional Verse, but what would be escaped was the importance of a core of power.
Leonel had struck down dozens of these ships with ease, and using a few of their power sources to power the protective Force Art was as easy as breathing.
The best part was that the Sea Gods gave him further inspiration.
Using concepts he had grasped from their unique sea water, he was able to create a Force Art that drew Force toward it and acted as an anchor as well.
As such, the more time passed, the stronger the Force Art would become.
Even after this, Leonel still wasn't finished with the scraps of the fallen flying ships.
He reconstructed them, creating many much smaller and countless times more powerful ships. With his current skill in Crafting, he wasn't even very worried about the Barbarian Race on this front.
The Barbarian Race wasn't a Race of Crafters. It could be said that Talon was a complete anomaly, and even he wasn't a match for Leonel almost a year ago now, let alone currently. Leonel had stepped into the threshold of the Self Path. Truthfully, if they were restricted to Crafting something of the same Dimension, even Minerva couldn't match up to him.
In just three days, Leonel revamped the entire Empire until it was completely unrecognizable.
He did nothing about their forms of government or things of the like because he didn't care. He didn't come here to rule these people. He needed their warriors and nothing else.
This was where Anastasia took center stage.
After creating a blueprint, the little World Spirit had a field day. He mass produced millions of armors and weapons that could counter the strength of the Sea Gods.
When he was satisfied, Leonel took his fleet of ships and went on the attack.
The goal?
To return the entire Human Domain to its rightful owners.
And quite frankly, it was almost too easy.
Not even half a month later, all invaders had been expelled and forced to retreat to the Ancient Battlefield.